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Jack Reacher

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  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    CraigMooreOHMSS wrote: »
    I think it'll also be fair to anticipate that the series will probably be inconsistent in terms of plot quality considering they seemingly want to adapt the books very closely, and a lot of the books are predominantly Reacher just hitting people with his fists. One Shot was a true gem in that it had a great mystery at its centre, and it was wise to use it as the basis for the first film. It's why they struggled so much with the follow-up and instead went straight for a more personal story (Reacher with a potential daughter, going back to the army etc).

    It's not quite the same as something like Bosch (which Amazon also did a great job with and was a selling point for them taking on Reacher for me initially), which was a wonderful detective show and made me want to go and read the books afterwards.

    I quite enjoyed Bosch for a while there. Some seasons were way better than others and some plot threads were susceptible to dragging, but overall, I liked it.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,218
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    CraigMooreOHMSS wrote: »
    I think it'll also be fair to anticipate that the series will probably be inconsistent in terms of plot quality considering they seemingly want to adapt the books very closely, and a lot of the books are predominantly Reacher just hitting people with his fists. One Shot was a true gem in that it had a great mystery at its centre, and it was wise to use it as the basis for the first film. It's why they struggled so much with the follow-up and instead went straight for a more personal story (Reacher with a potential daughter, going back to the army etc).

    It's not quite the same as something like Bosch (which Amazon also did a great job with and was a selling point for them taking on Reacher for me initially), which was a wonderful detective show and made me want to go and read the books afterwards.

    I quite enjoyed Bosch for a while there. Some seasons were way better than others and some plot threads were susceptible to dragging, but overall, I liked it.

    I loved it from beginning to end but I do agree that there were a couple of lulls. I liked that it wasn't afraid to make you believe something was going to be a bigger deal than it actually was (a certain serial killer who gets caught in a very trivial way, for example). Plus, Welliver was superb in the part. He is to Bosch what, say, Ryan Reynolds is to Deadpool. He looks and sounds like he was born for the role.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited February 2022 Posts: 40,978
    Welliver is criminally underrated as an actor. He's one of countless wickedly talented actors in Deadwood, my favorite show of all time.

    Meanwhile, the series has already been renewed for a second season, so it must be doing pretty well:

    https://deadline.com/2022/02/reacher-renewed-season-2-amazon-1234928214/
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 4,021
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Welliver is criminally underrated as an actor. He's one of countless wickedly talented actors in Deadwood, my favorite show of all time.

    Meanwhile, the series has already been renewed for a second season, so it must be doing pretty well:

    https://deadline.com/2022/02/reacher-renewed-season-2-amazon-1234928214/

    It has a fantastic score on RT. Both critics and audience.

    But besides that I'm loving this series. And it's one of the few Reacher books I have read...
  • Since62Since62
    Posts: 1,632
    OK, gotta be fair. My initial impression was based on still images, which were not flattering of the star in his performance as Reacher. Enjoying the show ! (I'm about halfway through the episodes. No, I don't mean I've watched each to the half-point. I mean that I've seen - in full - about 4 out of the 8 or so episodes.)
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    With one episode to go I’ve really enjoyed the show and am glad that it has been renewed . With that said , I’ve found the scripts , and direction, at times convoluted, and some of the fights choreography lacking. Hopefully this will be tightened in season 2.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited March 2022 Posts: 16,426
    I'm up to episode 4 or 5 of this now, and I'm kind of wondering when it's going to step up a gear. It just sort of flatlines along, they go somewhere, pick up a clue, go somewhere else. But the problem is they keep mentioning these characters by name and I have no idea who they're talking about. These characters were in one scene about two episodes ago, how on earth am I meant to remember who they are? It's so impenetrable that it makes me not care. A lot of the time I don't even know why they're meeting this or that person at their house.
    It's not like the plot is complicated, it's just they don't make anything clear; plus it feels really padded out, especially with the child flashbacks.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    I liked it but, yes, good point: it did seem to run at one pace for several episodes in a row.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,426
    It's the relentless names and characters I get confused by, and it's not as if I haven't watched a detective series before. Like the fella who gets nailed to a wall in one of the early episodes... did we actually see him alive? I had no idea who he was at all.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    It is enjoyable but convoluted; I’m happy that I’m not the only one who feels this way. I hope that this is addressed in future seasons.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    Venutius wrote: »
    I liked it but, yes, good point: it did seem to run at one pace for several episodes in a row.

    I'm not sure if it's a bad streak of luck or simply an Amazon issue but I've noticed something similar with their other shows, particularly Hanna.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited March 2022 Posts: 16,426
    It's hard not to think of something like Line of Duty where the tension and stakes ratchet up the further into a series you get, with big revelations turning the thing on its head. With this, they just go to a succession of bland-looking houses and talk to people over and over again, or find pieces of paper with apparently important things on but don't really explain what they are. It's not very good.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    mtm wrote: »
    It's hard not to think of something like Line of Duty where the tension and stakes ratchet up the further into a series you get, with big revelations turning the thing on its head. With this, they just go to a succession of bland-looking houses and talk to people over and over again, or find pieces of paper with apparently important things on but don't really explain what they are. It's not very good.

    I quickly tire of shows that are mostly filler, waiting until the finale for things to finally heat up.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,218
    I can't say I had much of an issue keeping up or staying interested in the plot, but I watched it over two days in four episode blocks so it all zipped by handily enough. I wonder if I hadn't binged it, would it have been more of an issue?
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited March 2022 Posts: 16,426
    Yeah I'm not really watching more than one a week, and it's hard to tell what's happening without recaps; or better than that: episodes which are written to have reminders as to who everyone is baked in. The one I watched last night had the main pair wondering if Stevenson is in on it- I think he's the shifty-looking uniformed cop at the station, but he hasn't been onscreen for a couple of episodes so I'm not sure. A better writer would have had him appear and then have the characters discuss his possible involvement.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    I watch too much in a given week to follow shows week-by-week anymore. I still do it on rare occasion, when it's something I'm overly excited for, but I've noticed some episodes don't have the same impact that they do when I'm binging an entire season or miniseries in one day or weekend.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,218
    It's definitely something worth considering: shows feel like they're written differently when they, the producers, know the majority of the audience are going to take in at least 50% of the season in one sitting. Line Of Duty is a great contrasting example, @mtm, in that it's heavily marketed (in what some would consider an old-fashioned way) as an event to look forward to every week. I am a sucker for that kind of anticipation.
  • RyanRyan Canada
    Posts: 692
    CraigMooreOHMSS wrote: »
    I can't say I had much of an issue keeping up or staying interested in the plot, but I watched it over two days in four episode blocks so it all zipped by handily enough. I wonder if I hadn't binged it, would it have been more of an issue?

    I watched it the same way - two sessions of four episodes each. That worked for me. I enjoyed it very much.

    I'd say it's at least on par with the second Cruise film for tone (a film I enjoyed as much as the first despite its less interesting plot). I thought the cast was good, the chemistry was strong enough to keep me invested in the leads, and it was no more or less predictable than any other crime based TV show. Good fun. It some ways it felt like it was just an eight hour movie which perhaps hurts the tension and pacing a little bit, but I didn't mind. I look forward to the next season.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    I watched the first three episodes yesterday and I'm enjoying it so far. Some of it feels a little unnecessary (i.e. the romantic angle) but I'm digging it overall. He makes a great Reacher.
  • Since62Since62
    Posts: 1,632
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    I watched the first three episodes yesterday and I'm enjoying it so far. Some of it feels a little unnecessary (i.e. the romantic angle) but I'm digging it overall. He makes a great Reacher.

    Then again, for some of us, that shower scene is the only part of the entire run of the show I found interesting.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    That shower scene's certainly been the action highlight so far. It seems a staple with these action thriller series from Amazon - the front and back ends are packed with great action and the middle episodes languish in dullness.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,426
    I never finished this, just lost interest.
  • Since62Since62
    Posts: 1,632
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    That shower scene's certainly been the action highlight so far. It seems a staple with these action thriller series from Amazon - the front and back ends are packed with great action and the middle episodes languish in dullness.

    OH ! I forgot the "changing clothes with former work colleague" scene...ALSO quite spicy for Mr. Reacher. My other interesting scene would be the Rescue-the-Dog sequence.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,638
    I watched Tom Cruise’s Reacher movies back to back last night and today. For the first time. While I enjoyed them, I’m hoping TC and company don’t do anymore. If they did, it seems like they would become Mission Impossible clones. I’ll give the books and TV show a chance. I feel that making books into movies out of order may have hurt the series. Here’s my controversial opinion: I liked Cobie Smulders’ Susan Turner better than Rosamund Pike’s Helen Rodin. There’s more to her character that I enjoyed. All in all, I’m feel like I’m going to be a fan.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    I'm up to episode five now and things are getting stale, fast. I feel like the mystery has been obvious from the first episode or two, so things are feeling very dragged out by now.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    edited September 2022 Posts: 8,218
    I enjoyed series one, but as I said before...

    The problem with Reacher is that the books vary wildly in quality but not in enjoyment; Child has a great knack for finding the humour in the situations that the character finds himself in but the plotting can be a little bit deriviative.

    Early on in one book, Reacher finds himself in a laundry room with a villain and promises to stuff him inside one of the tumble dryers. Later, the story switches perspective to the female FBI agent - who is now captive, blindfolded and bound in the same location. She describes the horrific sounds of several men screaming and the sound of "what she swore was a man being stuffed into a tumble dryer."

    Those moments made the books very enjoyable coffee table reads, with One Shot being the exception as there's a genuinely interesting mystery behind it all - which is why it made such a good film. The rest are pretty straightforward stories of good guys versus bad.

    With so many books and the likely chance that the series will not adapt One Shot, the series will probably suffer from being rather generic and resolve each season with Reacher simply punching stuff into oblivion.

    They may have to deviate a bit in order to make it interesting.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited September 2022 Posts: 40,978
    Good post, @CraigMooreOHMSS. My knowledge of the series doesn't go beyond this in-progress viewing of the Amazon series and the two Cruise films, so it's nice to get some perspective.

    It appears season two will be based on Bad Luck and Trouble.
  • Since62Since62
    Posts: 1,632
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    I watched Tom Cruise’s Reacher movies back to back last night and today. For the first time. While I enjoyed them, I’m hoping TC and company don’t do anymore. If they did, it seems like they would become Mission Impossible clones. I’ll give the books and TV show a chance. I feel that making books into movies out of order may have hurt the series. Here’s my controversial opinion: I liked Cobie Smulders’ Susan Turner better than Rosamund Pike’s Helen Rodin. There’s more to her character that I enjoyed. All in all, I’m feel like I’m going to be a fan.

    Since the TV show is out, with a different actor portraying Reacher, aren't the Cruise Reacher movies done ? No more ?
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    Since62 wrote: »
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    I watched Tom Cruise’s Reacher movies back to back last night and today. For the first time. While I enjoyed them, I’m hoping TC and company don’t do anymore. If they did, it seems like they would become Mission Impossible clones. I’ll give the books and TV show a chance. I feel that making books into movies out of order may have hurt the series. Here’s my controversial opinion: I liked Cobie Smulders’ Susan Turner better than Rosamund Pike’s Helen Rodin. There’s more to her character that I enjoyed. All in all, I’m feel like I’m going to be a fan.

    Since the TV show is out, with a different actor portraying Reacher, aren't the Cruise Reacher movies done ? No more ?

    That's been my assumption. Tom's busy enough these days anyway.
  • M_BaljeM_Balje Amsterdam, Netherlands
    edited March 2023 Posts: 4,521
    Since yesterday i got 2015 print from first Jack Reacher novel who together with 4th novel have difrent cover art then other 11 (include book with longer/short stories who been released after reprint of 22th album. ) are all with walking man.

    136x210.jpg134x210.jpg131x210.jpg
    Book 1 (Killing Floor), Book 4 (The Visitor) and Bonus album (No Middle Name)

    I believe there are now 28 books (27 + bonus album). Last one is named ''Geen Plan B'' (Original title: No Plan B). Moost present novel i have is 24th. From moment i collect 2th and 5th novel i can start with reading first 4 or 6. If i deside to read them on how the books been released, because when i collect the 18th novel i have considerd to start with that one because of Tom Cruise second movie.
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